State Education Chair “Very Encouraged” By Diversity Among Applicants For Next Appointed Education Commissioner

Officials in the State education division are planning a collective decision to take place January 2018 in order to appoint a new secondary and elementary education commissioner, the fifth individual to be given this post in the past 30 years.

Start Of Search

The search began in June since the event of Mitchell Chester’s death, the former commissioner for the past decade.

According to a meeting held Tuesday, state education board chair, Paul Sagan, stated a total of 18 candidates submitted their applications for the position. The total number, however, was not confirmed as several applicants “literally sent their documents yesterday.”

He also stated that an appointed search consultant from the Korn Ferry firm, “made several hundred calls to candidates over the past several months,” who will now be notified if they were selected to advance to the second stage

“She was very pleased with the quality of candidates,” Sagan remarked. “I would say I was extremely pleased.”

In the final stage, a screening committee consisting of Sagan himself, several board members, in addition to selected educators and members of the community, will choose around three candidates to hold public interviews scheduled for 22nd of January 2018.

Sagan noted he was excited about the diversity of the candidate selections.

Comments

“If you remove a few people who […] will not be asked to come forward, then 40 percent of the group were women and basically half were minorities, or representing underserved communities — and I think [they’re] extremely qualified candidates,” Sagan stated.

“If we get to the end and we’re just not convinced that we have the right group, we’ll do it again. But at this point, I was very encouraged.”

The chosen candidate will fill the role of commissioner, a job that was only even performed by a total of four white males since the year 1986 excluding any interim commissioners.

Although this job listing requested that all candidates interested should “Please apply no later than December 15, 2017,” Sagan explained that this deadline wasn’t set in stone.

“If somebody amazing shows up, we will figure out how to consider them as well,” he ensured.

Ann McDonald is a journalist who has worked for some of the reputed print and electronic media house in the country. She is a regular contributor to USA News and her articles are informative and uphold the view pint of contending parties. She specializes in issues about social justice, race and faith and has reported about the sectarian violence which has erupted regularly around the world. Humanitarian issues and cases of human rights violation are close to her heart and she has a tenacity to follow up all her news stories to their logical end. She has been awarded with various awards for her reporting.

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